Monday, 4 March 2013

"I should make a meme about you," Damani, who I swear is going to be the next Obama (haha!), said. "Says she can't get into grad school - gets accepted by 3 in 24 hours. LOL."

All jokes aside, though, I'm truly thanking the universe that I got accepted anywhere at all. I can't wait to pick one of the schools that offered me a place, get my paperwork sorted out, and get my rear end over to California! :D The USC faculty will be interviewing me next week on Skype for scholarship consideration (I've been shortlisted, which I still can't believe!) - I'm nervous, excited, nervous, and even more excited, eventhough it's going to feel really weird getting dressed up at 1.30am.

Back in the Malaysian timezone, today was the first day of work! Thankfully, it was a pretty easy first day - just sitting in for Dr. Yeoh Seng Guan's Media Studies lecture. I went bright red in the face when he made me stand up and introduce myself to the class of ~150 students, though. :( And it felt semi-awkward to guide the group of student volunteers to collect the unit readers from Dr. Yeoh's office. Tutorials start on Wednesday for Media Studies, but Dr. Yeoh will be handling the first week - I only take the stage next week onwards. :P Some of the students spoke to me, mostly asking if they can change their tutorial slots, asking how they can prepare for the first tutorial, etc. Wednesday afternoon is when the first Journalism 1 lecture is going to be held by Dr. Hah Foong Lian - I'm bouncing-on-the-balls-of-my-feet excited about that, get to meet the students and all!

Media Studies lecture by Dr Yeoh Seng Guan - 4th March 2013

After the lecture, I went to get my administrative stuff done - staff ID card, figure out how to access my work computer, etc. And then I got to have water-cooler-conversations with my colleagues (gosh, it feels great to say "my colleagues", I've always wanted to have colleagues!) in the Sessional Staff office. :D

The Sessional Staff Office, School of Arts & Social Sciences, Monash University Sunway Campus

Tutorial supplies I bought at the bookstore, my work notebook, my spare mousepad for the office!

Dreamcatcher and braided bracelets I'm planning to wear as part of my external image this semester :P

I reckon one of the things I'm most excited about being a TA is to be able to experiment with different teaching styles. I have three months to see if my idea for goal-oriented tutoring will work on a large scale. Kinda wish I had more knowledge about teaching pedagogies, but now I've got so much material to study for classes - and doing my homework re grad schools and moving to the states - that I highly doubt I'll have time to research teaching as well. :( But the practical experience will be fantastic nonetheless - plus I get to mark exam papers for Media Studies! :D I wish I could mark assignments too, I'd like that experience, but we'll see if they add anything to my employment contract. :P